The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-11-12
to a whisper. The bare whitewashed
walls made painful contrast with

with its four noosed ropes dropping
ominously near the floor. A CLEAN of
sunshine shooting through the window
at this instant fell on the corner of the
death machine and in a slight degree
relieved its sombre hue. The chief
ballit began at lilo calling out
the names OF the persons summoned
as Jurors and bringing them
forward to the row of little stools d.
rectly in front of the gaIloWs. No
other sounds were heard in the long
high corridors, but the solemn, menot.
onous voice of the bailif and the rust
ling of the jurors as they tiptoed for
ward through the crowd. Parsons was
given cup of coffee a few minutes be-
fore the march to the scaffold was be-
gun and at 1l.12 began eating his final
meal
1t lacked just seven minutes and q
half of noon when a single shrouded
figure above which was a face of yellow
ish pallor, the face of August Spies
passed the first post of the gallows.
THE GAPING CROWD,
J on feet below, half rose involuntarily
som their chairs at the first glimpse OF
the apparition advancing across the
scaffold. Spies looked calm and glanced
at the reporters with a trace OF his old
time cynical smile, He walked firmly
over the drop, guided by the grasp o.
deputy, to the farthsst edge of the
gallows. Following close was Fischer
whose countenance had a peculiar
glisten, totally unlike the ashiness of
Engels heavy features, and in strange
contrast with the dead lack-lustre in the
pinched lineaments of Parsons. The
once jaunty vivacious Texan came last,
withered old man. He had aged
| twenty years since the day and hour,
scarcely twelve months before, when
he tripped lightly into the court before
Judce Gary, and fippantly declared
that he was ready to be tried at once
| for his life. The minute his feet
touched the scaffold, Parsons seemed
| to
COMPLETELY LOSE HIS IDENTITY
and to feel that his spirit was
no longer part of his body.
He had brought himself to an ecstasy
of solemn self-glorifcation. He, the
only American, seemed to realize to the
full extent that he must die in a man
ner to impress, if possible, on all future
generations the thought that he was a
martyr. No tragedi4n that has paced
the stage has ever made more
MARvELoJs PRESENTATION
of self-chosen part, perfect in every
detail. In the upward turn of his
eyes, his distant, far-away look, and,
above all, the attitude of apparent COM
plete resignation, that every fold of the
awkward shroud only served to make
more distinct, was by far the most strik-
ing feature of the entire gallows
picture. The squat form of Engel
alongside, with the stupid, wide-jawed
face made hideous the contrast to Par
sons assumption of the halo of a
martyr. Fischer was head and shoulders
taller than the other three, making his
only-occasional looks of
roo-EvIDENT BRAvADo.
tie more noticeable than might other
wise be, sorry disadvantage compared
with the steady GOODNESS of Spies. The
latter's exhibition of quiet, thorough
nerve far surpassed as q wonder, the
demeanor of any of his comrades.
-Four burly deputies, standing to the
rear of the four condemned men, with
out delay,
BEGAN To ADJUST THE ROPES,
Spies moose being the one first placed.
He did not appear to regard it of any
more consequence than new linen
collar. The knot was slipped down the
cord, close against his neck. Spies did
not show tremor, but when the same
process was being carried out with
Fischer, he turned and quietly whis-
pered to the bailiff some suggestion
concerning the rope.
Fischer's occasional ordor was quite
noticeably lessened when he felt the
hempen strand, and Engel bit his under
lip hard when his turn came.
Just then, DR.. Murphy, the young
physician, standing back of Engel,
whisperingly
CRACKED A JOKE
at Engel's ear. Incredible as it may
seem, the low-browed Anarchist
laughed outright with the rope around
his neck, and while another was being
fastened on Parsons by his side. But
the grotesque laugh stopped in single
instant, and Parsons. meekly as
saint, cast his eyes upward at the
dangling line above him. Before the four
Anarchists had an linking of what was
being done, the white caps were deity
slipped upon their heads and drawn
quickly down to their necks, shutting
off the view of each as completely and
with less warning than does the camera
cloth of photographer.
August Spies was the first of the four
doomed men to make use of his wits
while he could. In tone of intense
bitterness of spirit, he, the man who
wrote the infamous revenge circular,
Kissed, between his tightly
clenched teeth: There will come a
time when our silence will be more
powei full than tho voices
THEY ABE sTRANGLING TO DEATH"
The last syllable of Spies concluding
words, hoarse with suppressed passion,
had not reached an end when Bngsl,
raising his voice, wildly cried
''Hurrah for Anarchy" Fischer
caught the fire of the utterance
and still more loudly exclaimed: